Some struggle with the written word.  Each page seems likes a trackless wilderness.  How will we make it to the bottom?   The reader stumbles over words in search of the right sound.  But sounds don’t reveal meanings.  Where’s the path?  What’s the code?  Ensnared by the task, we hate the word.  Then another picks up the text and reads it aloud.  We listen and learn what we could not realize alone.  The story fills us with delight.  It tells us who we are.  Please don’t stop.  The voice opens the way for us.  We are not forgotten.

Like the prophet Ezechial, John hears a voice tell him to eat the scroll. Take the words into your mouth.  Taste the sweetness then feel the pain.  Let the word fill you.  Now go forth and speak to the people of the promise.  Bold words will flow from your mouth: words to rouse the wayward and trouble the powerful.  All will stumble, but those who listen will hear what becomes their delight.  Can this be true?  The word pushes past our caution and doubt, past numbness and fear.  In the depths of desire--where we rarely visit--the word comes alive.

Some may not venture far into the house of knowledge.  But even a child opens her mouth for food.  The word was made flesh.  Everyone is invited to the feast.

God, you send the word to show us the way.  Please fill us with delight through all that you promise.  Make of our lives a holy place pleasing in your sight.